The Legend of Vox Machina: The Temple of Truth (4x09)

Let's... discuss under the cut, shall we?

Cons:

I'm not going to go on and on about the Grog situation because I don't know what's going to happen next, but all I'll say is this: if he's actually dead and gone, I think that's a dumb choice. If he's dead and has to be resurrected, it's an unnecessary eroding of the stakes of death in this universe. If he didn't really die, it dulls the super scary impact of the spinning orb of death/Thar Amphala portal. So like, kind of no matter what, I don't like this choice. You know what I would have done instead? Have Grog be turned into a necromantic puppet, and have them all think he was gone forever but later down the road they find out there's a way to reverse it. OR, have him stuck on the other side of that portal and the others have no way to get to him, so they think he might be as good as dead. Both would be real threats and real blows to the story.

Pike having a hard time processing her grief about Wilhand's death is all fine and good, and I do know I keep harping on about her story line in a way that's probably not totally fair, I just wish I understood more why she was connecting her sense of being unsettled with her relationship to the Everlight. It still feels unmotivated to me. One of the downsides of reviewing the show episode by episode is that maybe I'll be surprised and feel like where they land with Pike's character makes total sense in retrospect after I've watched it all. That's kind of what happened with Essek in the first season of The Mighty Nein, where I had a lot of questions and issues with the story but by the end of the season I understood better what they were going for. But for now all I can do is react as I see things develop and I just... hmmm. Pike is still kind of all over the place as a character this season, and in a way that, in my opinion, feels outside of the writer's control.

This is circling back on a critique from last week's batch of episodes, but I do think it would have been cooler to have the Delilah reveal moment come like this, with the gang finding her making a speech to a big cult, rather than how we had it, with a small little moment between her and the Whispered One, with none of our heroes there to react to it. This is more like how that reveal played out in the campaign.

Pros:

I thought the overall pacing and atmosphere of this episode was excellent. The threat of the orb, seeing what it does to someone who gets too close without the protective amulet, and then having Vex and Vax in combat near that orb, in danger of venturing too close... and then you have Keyleth and Percy and Tary down below setting up the bombs, the silencing spell, trying to hurry and get everything ready but not set anything off too soon. I was really caught up in the tension of these scenarios, where all the pieces had to be timed just right, and real peril was waiting for all our heroes at every second.

For all that I still don't really get how they've handled Pike as a character, I did like the stuff with her and Grog more in isolation here. The idea that she's not handling losing her Pop-Pop and that that's making her reckless and replacing her need for a real purpose, that all tracks in and of itself. I like that Grog tries to talk about their shared grief a few times, and Pike brushes him off, but ultimately she does say that they'll honor Wilhand once this is all over. She manages to put on a gentle, encouraging expression that eases Grog in the moment. I also have to praise the Pike animation when Grog dies, like, just the swaying disbelief, like her soul has been sucked out of her body. As an isolated moment it was effective and intense. Percy trying to run for Pike was also fantastic, I do love any moment where all of these characters show their love for each other.

This is a weird one, because I can't say this was a bad episode and I hated watching it, like, the combat was good, the various pieces coming together, the tension and horror building up to that unbelievable Grog death... but I'm distracted, because this doesn't feel like a good move over-all for the show. As I discussed above, no matter what way they go with this, I feel like this choice isn't going to pay off down the road. Most of the reactions I have seen have been people saying "but I'm sure his death isn't permanent, right?" and that's kind already a vibe killer from where I'm standing.

The further this show verges from the source material, the less I know what's coming, and that is not uniformly a good thing nor is it uniformly a bad thing. I've liked a lot of episodes this season that were created basically whole cloth for the show. But it also makes me... let's say... nervous... for what they might have in store from here. I truly think killing Grog off would be the dumbest thing in the world, and if this sticks, you best believe I'll have more to say about it.

7/10